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A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking

sinceyouarrived.world

231–240 of 309 posts

Re: A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking

#231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t understand why that would be an implicit agreement, though? Why would I expect that the website would not try to figure out who I am? They are free to remember whatever they want about my request… but I am also free to modify the request however I want, if I choose to randomize the list of fonts or choose to not send it or whatever.

> Why would I expect that the website would not try to figure out who I am? For the same reason I expect my neighbor not to kill me or steal my shit. We live in a society, with societal expectations around behaviour. I, personally, would prefer not to live in an uncivilized jungle where the only rule is "do whatever you can get away with".

“Kill me and steal my shit” is a lot different.

This is more like, I am not offended if my neighbor notices that I leave my house around the same time everyday and come home around the same time. I don’t expect my neighbor to look away when I step outside. If I put something in my yard visible from their house, I won’t get offended if they look at it.

Killing and stealing are completely different things than “paying attention to what I do when I am doing things they can see”

Re: A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking

#232

Maybe it's just because I am old, or have worked on internet software for almost 30 years, but none of this seems surprising or even concerning? Someone sets up a server that accepts connections to it and then someone sends a connection request to it. There has been no agreement on anything, no expectations or rules established. No one forces the server to accept any connection request it gets, and no one forces some…

One thing is using information about my connection like my IP and a different one is my browser exposing the angle that I'm holding my phone.

I should be able to expect some privacy from my device. What if my browser starts sending a picture of my front camera with every request, is that okay?

Re: A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking

#233

Maybe it's just because I am old, or have worked on internet software for almost 30 years, but none of this seems surprising or even concerning? Someone sets up a server that accepts connections to it and then someone sends a connection request to it. There has been no agreement on anything, no expectations or rules established. No one forces the server to accept any connection request it gets, and no one forces some…

The location it chose was laughably inaccurate (and since I'm the kind of person who posts here I know why). Censoring the IP address was a little cheesy, but down at the bottom it gets better. It knew how much my phone was charged and it made correct inferences about my device. It accurately read my gyroscope, how I interacted with the touch screen, and it demonstrated (not new knowledge to me but probably interesti…

I learned that either my phone's gyroscope is broken or my browser obfuscates it.

Still interesting, even if not surprising.

Re: A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking

#234
post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t understand why that would be an implicit agreement, though? Why would I expect that the website would not try to figure out who I am? They are free to remember whatever they want about my request… but I am also free to modify the request however I want, if I choose to randomize the list of fonts or choose to not send it or whatever.

> Why would I expect that the website would not try to figure out who I am? Because doing so is creepy.

What makes it creepy?

Re: A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking

#235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Of course, I know in practice most people don't understand what their browsers are doing, and there aren't a ton of practical choices for people around what their browser sends, and the internet is no longer an optional thing for a lot of our lives. This is the root problem. Your browser is supposed to be your agent. It's the User Agent, after all! It should be working on the user's behalf, users should understand…

I don’t think it is as simple as saying browsers are working for the web developer and advertisers. All the features that allow web sites and ad companies to track and target ads are features that are primarily there to give functionality that makes the web a better experience for users. JavaScript allows websites that are better experiences than not having it. I know some people disagree, but I think they are either…

They dont need to collect your accelerometers information of your irl movements or your devices' automatic time zone stuff i dont think. That basically gives away you're using a VPN and makes it easier to fingerprint you

Re: A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking

#236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Of course, I know in practice most people don't understand what their browsers are doing, and there aren't a ton of practical choices for people around what their browser sends, and the internet is no longer an optional thing for a lot of our lives. This is the root problem. Your browser is supposed to be your agent. It's the User Agent, after all! It should be working on the user's behalf, users should understand…

I don’t think it is as simple as saying browsers are working for the web developer and advertisers. All the features that allow web sites and ad companies to track and target ads are features that are primarily there to give functionality that makes the web a better experience for users. JavaScript allows websites that are better experiences than not having it. I know some people disagree, but I think they are either…

I guess what I'm advocating for is that it should not be all-or-nothing, and it should not default-on:

Most web sites have no business knowing my time zone. Why are browsers offering it up? That should be gated on the user's permission.

Most web sites should not be able to determine what my screen resolution is, or what my operating system is. Browsers should also hold that back and only disclose it with the user's permission.

Most web sites should not by default have access to all the shit JS gives them access to. Battery Status, Web Audio, WebGL, Sensors, WebRTC, Geolocation, media devices (camera and mic), clipboard, local storage... All of these have uses, but should be behind individual, easy to access per-website preferences, and by default the site shouldn't even be able to query for their existence (which is enough to fingerprint), let alone call them. I shouldn't have to blanket turn off JavaScript to kill these things.

All a website needs to know about me, my browser, or my computing environment is I want to "GET /".

Re: A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking

#237

Maybe it's just because I am old, or have worked on internet software for almost 30 years, but none of this seems surprising or even concerning? Someone sets up a server that accepts connections to it and then someone sends a connection request to it. There has been no agreement on anything, no expectations or rules established. No one forces the server to accept any connection request it gets, and no one forces some…

I remember some users with phpBB signatures some 20 years ago that did the "I know where your IP address lives" trick. Yeah, a bit surprised this is still being done, only today not as some silly troll move in a forum but on some professionally designed website.

Re: A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking

#238
Huh? The user mwheelz seems to have been [dead]'d in the time this post has been on the front page. If I look at their comments page, those posted more than 46 minutes ago (at the time of writing) are normally visible and the rest are [dead].

https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=mwheelz

Mods, is there something we should know? Is there maybe a reason to stay away from the linked website?

Re: A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking

#240
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Contrast is a violation of accessibility guidelines.

This site is already violating your privacy. Do you think they care about your accessibility needs?

The site isn't violating your privacy.
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